Free Kicks

FK Sloboda is a football club and not in the construction business. This was apparent Sunday when building a wall to defend a free kick against HŠK Zrinjski in the Premier League of Bosnia & Herzegovina.

Thanks to state-of-the-art microphone technology, we were able to pick up on the conversation that went on as Sloboda planned out its strategy.

“Everybody listen up. I have the best plan, the greatest plan, a better plan than any of the tacticians in Italy or England could think up.”

“OK skipper, what have you got in mind for defending this free kick?”

It’s not an exaggeration to say that Roberto Carlos scored the greatest free kick ever. By extension, was he the greatest free kick specialist of all-time? Absolutely not. His ability to absolutely crush the ball into a banana curve defied logic and was rumored capable of killing a cow, but his penchant for violence over accuracy meant that many dead balls reached Row Z of Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu.

In a playing career that included stints with Roma, Sampdoria, Lazio and Inter, Serbian Sinisa Mihajlovic built a reputation as one the world’s finest dead-ball specialists. Alongside Andrea Pirlo, no player has scored more goals from direct free kicks in Serie A history than Mihajlovic with 28.

He was named Torino manager before the start of last season and guided the club to a ninth-place finish in Italy’s top flight. For a goalkeeper, playing under Mihajlovic is obviously a nightmare.

Argentina’s new sensation has proven time and again how talented he is on the biggest stage for Juventus. It looks like no matter what the circumstances are, Dybala finds a way to shine.

In a charity match in his hometown of Laguna Larga, the 23-year-old was faced with a seemingly insurmountable task - put the ball in the back of the net with 18 defenders and two goalkeepers in the way, many of whom were hanging from the crossbar to further block his path.